Retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane expressed doubt that the Iran ceasefire will hold, arguing Tehran is exploiting the pause to delay and ease pressure while testing whether the U.S. has “the stomach” to restart the fight.
“I am skeptical about where we’re heading with the Iranians because I flat don’t trust them, and I don’t like taking the pressure off them by going to a ceasefire, which is what they want in any event to force the United States to stop the war,” Keane said Tuesday on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“We have done that, admittedly only temporarily, but we’ve got to see what’s in that deal.”
He warned that Tehran has a long track record of using negotiations to buy time, calling Iranian leaders “experts at obfuscating and delaying deals” who “lie and promise and don’t deliver.”
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That’s something President Donald Trump is well aware of, Keane said, noting the president’s dealings with Tehran have left him “clear-eyed” about the challenges of securing a lasting agreement.
“The president and his team know who they’re dealing with, so we’re going to have to hold their feet to the fire and, if this blows up in our face, we have to have the stomach to finish this,” he added.
Trump announced Tuesday that, based on conversations with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, he will delay the “bombing and attack of Iran” for two weeks.
Trump said the decision came after the leaders requested the U.S. “hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran,” which the president previously threatened would start at 8 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday if a deal was not reached.
“This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East.”
Trump said the administration received a 10-point proposal from Iran, and officials “believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate.”
Fox News’ Alexandra Koch and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.
